This book is quite the journey. The story is interesting for the first couple of hundred pages, but clearly that is where the editor gave up, as most of the remainder plods around taking a long time to get anywhere.
It is certainly cool that it essentially predicts crypto currencies (though as David points out, slightly absurd to back it with gold - something most major currencies have long since abandoned!). However, the books politics - essentially "if only nerds ran the world we'd all be OK" - are past their best. We now live in that world, and Bitcoin, FB and the rest have not saved us from authoritarian government, they practically ushered it in.
The book also betrays it's pre-gamer gate origins with its unapologetic gendered nonsense: nerds are men, women are for fucking, women can't get laser focused on subjects, men lack social grace. All of the women in this book serve as targets for men's affection. Despite one of the characters, America, being described as a badass by the book, she still craves protection from the male lead.
I'm sure this is not uncommon in sci fi of this era. However, I have no time for this nonsense any more.
It is certainly cool that it essentially predicts crypto currencies (though as David points out, slightly absurd to back it with gold - something most major currencies have long since abandoned!). However, the books politics - essentially "if only nerds ran the world we'd all be OK" - are past their best. We now live in that world, and Bitcoin, FB and the rest have not saved us from authoritarian government, they practically ushered it in.
The book also betrays it's pre-gamer gate origins with its unapologetic gendered nonsense: nerds are men, women are for fucking, women can't get laser focused on subjects, men lack social grace. All of the women in this book serve as targets for men's affection. Despite one of the characters, America, being described as a badass by the book, she still craves protection from the male lead.
I'm sure this is not uncommon in sci fi of this era. However, I have no time for this nonsense any more.
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